Tales of Xillia 2 Trailer Shows Characters, Choices And Battles

Earlier today, Namco Bandai announced Tales of Xillia 2, in development for the PlayStation 3 and coming this winter. Xillia 2 takes place one year after Tales of Xillia, and starts Ludgar, his pet cat, Lulu, and an 8-year-old girl, Elle, as its main characters. You can watch the announcement trailer for the game below:

Xillia 2 uses the Cross Double-Raid Linear Motion Battle System. In battle, Ludgar can switch between dual swords, guns or a hammer weapon. At certain points in the game, you’ll also get to make choices. This will be done using the L1 and R1 buttons, and will affect how certain events play out. This is demonstrated in the trailer, too.

Come on… Preferences are one thing, but are people already hating a character that has just been revealed today? What did she even do, exactly? Nothing, from my observation so far.

Revorse

Of course she did nothing. I just don’t like kids. Fictional or otherwise. So yeah, my opinion of her seems kinda unfair but it’s mostly a bad joke. I’m not going to have a “real” opinion” on her until I get a chance to play the game.

Scrooge_McDuck

To be fair, between destroying the world and abandoning a girl one knows nothing about, one would generally choose the latter.

Point taken, but if we’re going to say that on announcement days, the same argument would apply to any fictional character, wouldn’t it? This being a Tales game, I’m sure the game will offer plenty of occasions to get to know the characters, because – if for nothing else – that’s what the series has done in the past. Who’s to say that we wouldn’t know her enough to come back to the question by the time we get to the game’s finale?

Regional preferences aside, I believe there’s a difference between belonging to a Loli archetype and just being young. A properly handled child character can bring a tone and perspective to a story that no other age range could.

And if we’re gonna talk about clichés and archetypes, Asbel was as standard as hero characters come; but he was still distinct enough by himself as the story went on because of the various character traits – large and small – that accumulated through story, events and skits, wasn’t he? It all depends on how the writers will decide to handle her character. Mind you, I’m aware of how rampant Moe archetypes are in Japan’s popular media, so I can understand the skepticism some have; although Lolis are by no means the only archetype subjected to overuse.

If you don’t mind a bit of speculation from me: Ludgar looks like an officer of sorts, or at least a public servant in a position related to that giant train we see in promo materials. Throwing in the armed raid and the girl being on the train into the picture, it’s not entirely implausible that she’s a character Ludgar would end up protecting. And I think there’s a lot of potential scenarios to be had that isn’t common in Tales games, like between a helpless child and a generally capable grown-up.

Now, I’m not drawing any premature conclusions here. My point is that for all the understandable skepticism some have, there’s just as much potential to be had. But, none of us are going to know for sure until the game comes out and we actually get to play it to the end, are we?

I’m actually liking this better now that I’ve seen the trailer. I was a little skeptical about a Xillia announcement without the first game’s cast (although I enjoyed Symphonia 2, I didn’t like the background role the former cast took, since they were the reason I picked up Symphonia 2 – character interactions are a strong point for the Tales series). However, I really liked this trailer, the decision system, and the fact that “Would you save the world for a girl?” didn’t turn out to be some cliche love story. I’m looking forward to more information.

Seing how Xillia 2’s plot happens a year after the 1st, I’m confident some of them, if not all, will appear at some point.

Arrei

As a sequel made because of the success of the first game, I can’t see them not including the old main characters in some fashion, really. They might not be playable but I’d expect them to at least show up.

Flex Range Element Enhanced Linear Motion Battle System is still the longest

keithmaxx

You should’ve heard the way Baba-san tried to say the whole phrase in a
single breath… and the terminology isn’t even Japanese! (not that it
makes sense to us in English, either)

*reposted my comment from another article* :)

Spirit Macardi

Not sure how I feel about the cutscenes now having essentially Renegade/Paragon interrupts, though the motion capture used in the footage looks absolutely breathtaking. I’m thinking a lot of time and money is being poured into this, and it really shows.

I somehow have a feeling that if this game comes to the west, the main character will be voiced by either Johnny Yong Bosch or Yuri Lowenthal.

duuuuuuuuuuuuudeeeee it looks awesome!, now if namdai brings xillia 1 and 2 to the U.S I will be a very happy man. Now the main dude looks badass, the hammer weapon looks unnecessary tough, the gun and the dual swords are cool

Darkrise

I’m getting some Baccano vibes from the whole train scene.

keithmaxx

Points for Baccano.

Anyways, seeing as *SPOILER* people from Elenpios cannot use spirits or magics, I’d say there’ll be less people with supernatural powers, unlike Baccano. *ENDSPOILER*

And if it’s actually bad, they could always pretend it’s “escort” all along like what they did with Tales of the Tempest.

Yamaneko22

I wonder if they will release an upgraded version of 1st Xillia, like they did with Vesperia, Symphonia and Graces, or just concentrate on the 2nd part. I haven’t played it yet myself, but heared a lot of people complaining it felt rushed and upgrade could do it well…

fqc

Wow, this really turned out to be the worst case scenario. This really looks like a lazy cash in attempt instead of creating something new. I really enjoyed Vesperia and Graces F on the PS3 but after playing Xillia and seeing this trailer I’m going to have to pass on this one.

First of all, Xillia already has a plenty fine engine and interface system. Why would the studio overhaul it completely just after a year of release? Secondly, this is a sequel, so using the previous resrouces does make sense with a year’s gap in release. Thirdly, as I said above, they did a great job with the system already, so I believe they deserve to reap their rewards. There are plenty of games out there that use a common engine as well – particularly, Unreal Engine 3 – but not all of them are bad, are they?

hawk222

People have been saying that this game reminds them of FFXIII, but the only thing here that reminds me of FFXIII is the weapon changing system, and even then that’s FF Versus XIII, not FFXIII.

By the way, that weapon changing system looks SO AWESOME!!!

LETS PRAY FOR LOCALIZATION

I really enjoyed the original tales of xillia, so i will deffinetly import this for sure <3

veruses

Why does it look less appealing than Xillia?

Anime10121

I think it looks far MORE appealing. Okumura’s characters are a refreshing change.

ehhh. . . I’m not a big fan of those “choose this to trigger cutscene” kind of scenarios. . .

just makes me believe a lot of my ‘choices’ will require me to reset from a previous save to get things “right”. . . a la Mass Effect

I’m also not so thrilled about the weapon load-out Ludger gets, but that’s just a personal taste nitpick on my part. Just kind of digged what Milla was set up as (spellsword, magic knight, what have you)

as for it’s being a sequel, they’ve really only showed us a train (what is with RPGs and trains?) and I’ve not played Xillia to know if this will offend my very core like Dawn of the New World did. . .

Anime10121

This and DotNW are two completely different scenarios, DotNW was a spinoff title not handled by the main Tales of team, it basically wasnt a “true” sequel (which is why it never actually released as Symphonia 2) where this is a main game developed by the real Tales team like Destiny 2 was (a JPN only release that was EXTREMELY well received and sold almost a mil in JPN alone). This game will be as good as any other “main” Tales game :P

And just to put it out there, I actually thought DotNW was an alright game, didnt like the monster collecting aspect (same with XIII-2), although the gameplay, characters (Marta and Emil), and story were decent enough.

I have to say that I’m liking everything I’m seeing so far, characters, settings, and battle system included. The only thing I would’ve liked them to show is a sexy female acquaintance. Ludgar looks as if his occupation is that of a detective or somewhat so I would like to see him with a Carmen 99 (Gun X Sword), Leslie (Arc Rise Fantasia) type friend who shows up to help every now and then =^_^=

Hey, that rhymed lol =P

s07195

I assume that Milla will return in the sequel so there you go.

AzureNova

I meant someone new.

s07195

I see. :)

Anime10121

Awesome thing is they finally let someone else do the main character designs on the game (I know he was involved with a few of the others too, but Inomata and Fushijima have ALWAYS had a hand in designing the main characters), and they look AWESOME! Im loving this new look for Xillia 2 and hope that with Okumura doing character design, maybe they’ll FINALLY replace Motoi Sakuraba with somebody fresh (or Go Shiina returns) so we can get a different OST for once instead of the samey crap that he spits out EVERY game (sorry but I’m EXTREMELY sick of Sakuraba’s music).

Rohan Viajar

I know I might sound stupid when I say this.
but how did the world of xilia
change into this new world?

what I mean is. how did the fantasy looking world (1st game). change into this. more realistic looking world?

did something happen at the end of the first game?

Arrei

Spoilers ahoy but I’ll try to keep it brief.

You visit another world in Xillia, but it isn’t expanded on very much. This game takes place on that world.

If I watch the trailer will it spoil Xillia 1 for me?
I’m betting on yes, but I want to be careful anyway haha.

PurpleDoom

No, the characters and events shown in this trailer have no obvious relation to the first game. It’s spoiler-free.

ZEROthefirst

Unless the trailer has some hidden messages that are spoiling the first game for you then you’re fine to watch it.

Prinnydoom

Don’t know how i really feel about this. On one level yay on another meh tales don’t do sequels to well. Still there is always a chance for change. Not really what i was expecting but still it should be pretty good. My only problem is the protagonist looks a little weird.

Arrei

They’ve only done two main-game sequels so far, though. One came out good and was a mothership, the other was an escort and… yeah.

RaikageV

DotnW wasn’t that bad. Sure, it wasn’t really good either but I enjoyed playing it and had much fun.

Arrei

Eh, whatever floats your boat.

Me, I took issue with the Marty Stu of a protagonist, the poorly done plot twists, the restrictions placed on the old cast, the poorly written “romance” and the fact that Emil has a flashback to an event that happened not thirty seconds ago. Like four times before even leaving the town.

It’s for that reason I want Xillia 2 to be good. I’m hoping it washes out the bad taste ToS2 left in my mouth.

riceisnice

The girl in this thumbtack and the thumbtack in Lollypop Chainsaw look eerily similar.

Jonathan Keycross

For a moment I thought the hammer was a staff, thus reminding me to Leia´s combat style.

Let´s hope the other character´s roles (if there are) won´t be overshadowed by Ludgar who seems to already know how to handle combat by himself.

raitouniverse

Still rather bothered by the art direction, but it’s only one area so who’s to really say. The choice system seems to be showing signs of change in the series, I wonder if it’ll be a branching storyline. As for destroying the world for this girl, I’m neutral either way, but she better not have an annoying voice.

She has a great voice… but obviously I can’t speak to any western release’s dub as I don’t play those. Her Japanese voice is awesome though (relatively new VA, she played a role in FF13-2, can’t remember who though as I never played it).

RaikageV

Was Xillia (the first one) really that… modern?

Does anyone else think that the shooting in the battle-scene looks kinda stupid?

Christopher Nunes

I noticed that the first time around, the Gun play looks stiff and not enjoyable. If they wanted a fast-pace gunslinger fighting style Legretta’s would’ve been perfect or Iria or the Descender’s Gun class from the RW series… seriously the Descender’s Gunner class is more fun to play around than what Ludgar does here.

Well it’s still in development so hopefully they get around improve the battle animation for Ludgar’s gun style.

Agreed, looks stiff, but also it’s probably only really early skillsets he’s using (which are never that impressive compared to later ones) and as you’ve said, early animation will be ironed out before release.

Speedo Redempteur

Yes xillia was that modern but it’s a spoiler for xillia 1.. In fact Anyone that hasn’t went to the late part of xillia will get spoiled by anything Xillia 2 throws at you …

It’s been strongly hinted amidst all the “We want to bring over more Tales Of games” talk. It’ll likely be coming over to the Americas and Europe eventually.

Nathan_GreeneIV

Shifting one weapon to another AWESOME! Im digging the main new characters and all but I wish they could of made the shooting more fluid though. Well at least we get a character that actually gets a gun.

Wow, this looks bloody fantastic! Really liking the look of the main character as well. HE’S NOT A TEEN! :D Also, has a detective-style get-up so hopefully that means we’ll get some hard-boiled cop drama thrown in with the usual Tales stuff. :P

Also, I really like the idea of those small event scenes. Makes things a bit more engaging but I’m hoping it’s not just a right-wrong style set-up which the trailer seemed to make it appear.

Yup I really like the main character as well since he’s not a kid, but the main heroine on the other hand…. well a loli *sigh*

TheCynicalReaper

He certainly looks like a return to the better male protagonists, that’s for sure. I liked Asbel and he was perfect for his story, but the trailer paints this game in a darker tone than Graces so it would feel horribly out of place for the protagonist to be so openly friendly and trusting.

Also wish HE was a doctor so I could finally get to play a modern game with Black Jack as the protagonist. He already has the little girl side-kick and the black/white hair. All he needs is now is a severe facial scar, a cloak and a scalpel and we’d be in good business!

…My dream will never come true…

Nitraion

Desember 2012 xillia 1 localize,Xillia 2 release
*jokes end*

cedx123

Loving Ludgar all ready I like his clothes,hair, and well overall design. I really hope Namco is working on getting the first Xillia over US/EU because it would be an utter shame to not do so after bringing Graces F.

Hey man, I know what you mean. XIII went modern pretty quickly. Though I’m not going to assume that NB is going to do the same, they might bring it back to to the “olden days”. I just hope fire-arms and mechanical weaponry won’t go over board, I love the spells in Tales of Games :/ I did like Hubert though… :D

Hey, I wanted to ask something. Does anyone feel that Namco Bandai rushed the first one to get to here? I don’t feel like they did, I thought Xillia 1 was great. I definitely can’t wait for this one :3

While some things about the game intrigue me, like changing weapon style on the fly and the modern setting, I can’t say I’m very excited about it unfortunately. Judging just from this trailer, it looks very rushed and kind of bland. I myself could care less about branching story paths so long as the one story that’s told is great. I’ll withhold full judgement until I see more of course, but it’s not that impressive to me so far. Plus, did Xillia really need a sequel? I thought the ending was perfect.

I bet this is music to the ears of those disappointed with the length of the first Xillia. Go Bamco! Although, this puts the non-Japan world like, 3 games behind again…

On the other hand, could someone please explain to me what on Earth this has to do with Tales of Xillia?!

LightZero

The MC of this game definitely seems cool. He’s a definitely an improvement over Jude and his Millia’s fanboy nonsense. It would be great if he’s the first Tales MC to go over the age of 21. I’m still bit iffy about the combat after playing Graces at least it will be fun. Although I do like that we can switch weapons style like in .Hack GU with Haseo. Just give me dual swords, guns, and a scythe I’m happy. I’m certain we will see other characters as well. They did the same thing when Graces and Xillia 1 was first revealed.

Göran Isacson

Weapon switching and only one character in the battles? It’s not what I expected, but I think I kinda like it. A bit surprised that the game with such a bleak color-scheme turned out to be a sequel though.

Also, hope those choices amount to something more than just “good end/bad end”.

C.C.

If you played Tales of Xillia, you shouldn’t be surprised by the “bleak color-scheme” because it’s suppose to be look like that. The places shown on the trailer looks the same as the one seen on the first Tales of Xillia.

Tales of Xillia 2 is set in Elenpios, it’s an another world on Tales of Xillia and the other world is Liese Maxia.

*EDIT*
Keep in mind that the video is not 720p or 1080p, it’s 360p.

Speedo Redempteur

The game is not one character in battle … they just showed their character lead …

Think people !!
They obviously will show the rest of the cast during the ” Tales of ” events soon.

Also the places shown are supposed to be bleak ..Not all the game will be like this of course but the setup and backstory are perfectly explained in the first game.

C.C.

I knew I recognized that place! It’s Elenpios. There’s only few places you can go on the first game. I hope they also put the other world (Liese Maxia).

Instant import! :D

Jirin

Is this by the core Tales developers? I know DOTNW wasn’t, and that’s one of the weakest entries in the series.

They also added another elemental system to a world that already had an elemental system, which strikes me as lazy.

I also hated Legendia. The only Tales games I’ve liked are the ones by Teams Destiny or Symphonia, or by people from those teams, so I am only interested in Xillia 2 if it is by those people.

LightZero

Xillia 2 is a mothership title. So you don’t have to worry. Even then you don’t play Tales games for their stories. They are mostly average. Team Destiny and Team Symphonia are no more. For now on Tales games will have a bit of both although Xillia 1 and from the looks of it Xillia 2 have more Team Symphonia influence.

Jirin

Ok, that’s good.

I agree Tales games stories are average but they usually have a fairly strong character cast, if a bit archetypal. Non-TS/TD titles tend to have clunky controls, fewer combat options, and more palette swaps.

I know the teams were broken up, but I also know people from both have been merged into a core Tales team.

Astrid Huang

So excited! =D
I just hope there will be more playable characters, and returning characters from Xillia 1 could also be playable too..

No more monster system like ToS Dotnw and FFXIII-2 please!

LightZero

Both ToS2 and FFXIII-2 are spin-off sequels even then Shin Megami Tensei/Megami Tensei did it long before they did. Even DQV and FFX-2 International did it. That aside the trailer is only showing the MC for the time being. Graces did the same thing back in 2008 with Asbel. Xillia only showed Jude and Millia at first in their debut trailer as well.

Kai2591

Games need moar Cats.
Talking ones preferred.

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